Forever: Are Brookwood, St. Maria’s Academy, and Camden Hall Real Schools in California?

In ‘Forever,’ the audience tags along with two teenagers for a life-changing senior year of high school. Justin and Keisha’s paths diverged a long time ago in elementary school. Nonetheless, it isn’t long before fate finally brings them back together at a New Year’s Eve party. Consequently, the duo finds themselves diving headfirst into a new and exciting whirlwind romance, ripe with complicated exes, overprotective parents, and a summer of dramatic separation. Nonetheless, as young adulthood looms over the horizon, the couple is also forced to confront some of the worst of their entrapments.

As Justin and Kesiha chart this journey of a first love, they also undergo their personal character arcs and storylines that shape their personalities outside of their relationships. Naturally, their high school experiences at Brookwood, St. Maria’s Academy, and Camden Hall end up playing crucial roles in their tale’s development. However, do these institutions have any off-screen basis in reality?

Forever Utilizes Fictitious Schools to Explore Justin and Keisha’s High School Years

‘Forever,’ a live-action reimagined adaptation of Judy Blume’s 1975 novel, cements itself in reality through a number of real-life connections. However, while these connections are highlighted through characters and their narratives, the show’s depiction of the three central Californian schools, Brookwood, St. Maria’s Academy, and Camden Hall, seems to be a work of fiction. In real life, there are similar establishments that could serve as potential parallels for the on-screen institutions.

For instance, there are high schools christened as Brookwood that can be found in places like Georgia, Atlanta, and Manchester, Massachusetts. Nonetheless, no school that is similarly titled can be found in California. On the other hand, St. Mary’s Academy is a real high school in Inglewood, California, posing a close counterpart to the institution from which Keisha graduates. Yet, it’s evident through their strikingly different uniforms that the off-screen St. Mary’s Academy isn’t identically replicated through Keisha’s on-screen school. Consequently, much like the non-existent Camden Hall, the other two establishments also remain confined within the fictional premises of the show.

Even so, despite their fictionality, these schools present a realistic depiction of modern-day high schools and the unique role they play in the lives of contemporary teenagers. Brookwood, in particular, becomes a case study in how socially othering predominantly white schools can be for the minutely diverse student demographic. This introduces topics of code-switching in academic settings. As per a 2019 survey, 85% of Black adults feel compelled to code-switch at times. More often than not, this practice is influenced by an individual’s desire to become culturally compatible with their oftentimes white peers. Thus, for Keisha, this pressure to conform, though subliminally underlying, comes at the expense of personal identity.

On the other hand, St. Mary’s Academy highlights the expensive nature of private schools and the pressure they can add to the lives of students and their families. Meanwhile, Camden Hall serves as a consistent reminder of the significance of high school sports, especially in the pursuit of higher education at elite institutions. Therefore, Justin’s attempts to seek out his dream university options through his sports extracurricular present an authentic representation of the college application process for many young and aspiring athletes. Thus, these points of connection allow the central characters and their storylines to resonate that much more deeply with the audience, offering points of relatability and realism. Nonetheless, none of the central on-screen high schools retains a direct counterpart in reality.